The present invention relates generally to a drive for recording mediums such as floppy discs with high storage capacity received in cartridges, and more particularly, to a structure for preventing misinsertion of such recording-medium cartridges.
FIG. 13 shows a known 3.5" microfloppy disc (MFD) cartridge 1, which includes a disc-like recording medium or magnetic recording medium 2, a shell 3 rotatably accommodating the disc-like recording medium 2, and a shutter 4 slidably mounted to the shell 3 to close recording or reproducing opening 3a formed in upper and lower halves of the shell 3.
The shell 3 is formed like a flattened rectangular box, and has a front end face 3b as viewed in the direction of insertion into a cartridge holder 302 of a drive 301. A groove 3c is formed in the front end face 3b to engage with a shutter engagement 303a of a shutter opening member 303 arranged with the cartridge holder 302. The groove 3c is located in a shutter slide area 3d of the shell 3, and is closed by the shutter 4 when the opening 3a is closed by it.
An inclined face 3e is formed at one side of the front end face 3b of the shell 3. Refer hereafter the disc cartridge with the inclined face 3e at one side of the front end face 3b of the shell 3 to as a disc cartridge of first format.
The drive 301 for the disc cartridge 1 of first format (refer hereafter to as a subordinate drive) includes a cartridge holder 302 for holding the disc cartridge 1 of first format as inserted therein, the shutter opening member 303 for opening the opening 3a by contacting one end 4a of the shutter 4 of the disc cartridge 1 of first format inserted into the cartridge holder 302 to slide the shutter 4, and a trigger lever 305 for allowing downward movement of the cartridge holder 302 by releasing after opening the opening 3a lock of a cartridge-holder slide plate 304 to slide it.
The conventional subordinate drive 301 includes a separate-trigger-type drive having the shutter opening member 303 and the trigger lever 305 formed separately, and an integrated-trigger-type drive having the shutter opening member 303 and the trigger lever 305 formed integrally.
Referring to FIG. 14, the separate-trigger-type subordinate drive is constructed such that the shutter opening member 303 has one end formed with a shutter engagement 303a, and another end rotatably mounted to the cartridge holder 302 through a pivot shaft 306. The trigger lever 305 is rotatably mounted to a chassis 308 through a pivot shaft 307.
Referring to FIG. 15, the separate-trigger-type subordinate drive 301 is constructed such that when inserting into the cartridge holder 302 the disc cartridge 1 of first format in the normal position, as shown by two-dot chain lines, with the shutter engagement 303a of the shutter opening member 303 contacting the one end 4a of the shutter 4, the shutter opening member 303 rotates clockwise about the pivot shaft 306 against the force of a coil spring 309 to slide the shutter 4 through the shutter engagement 303a.
Referring to FIG. 16, when sliding the shutter 4 through the shutter engagement 303a up to the position where the opening 3a is fully opened, the shutter engagement 303a comes to face the groove 3c of the end face 3b of the shell 3. And, referring to FIG. 17, the disc cartridge 1 of first format is inserted further into the cartridge holder 302 with the shutter engagement 303a being engaged with the groove 3c. When obtaining insertion of the disc cartridge 1 of first format up to a predetermined position, rotation of the shutter opening member 303 is prevented by a stopper 310 to prevent its further insertion.
Referring to FIGS. 18-19, a pressed portion 311 of the trigger lever 305 is pressed by the front end face 3b of the shell 3, so that the trigger lever 305 rotates counterclockwise about the pivot shaft 307 against the force of a torsion coil spring 312 to release engagement of a locking portion 313 of the trigger lever 305 with a locked portion 304a of the cartridge-holder slide plate 304, i.e. locking of the cartridge-holder slide plate 304 by the trigger lever 305. This slides the cartridge-holder slide plate 304 to move the cartridge holder 302 downward.
Referring to FIG. 20, the separate-trigger-type subordinate drive 301 is constructed such that when inserting into the cartridge holder 302 the disc cartridge 1 of first format in a position other than the normal position, even with rotation of the shutter opening member 303 coming to be prevented by the stopper 310, the shutter engagement 303a of the shutter opening member 303 does not face the groove 3c of the end face 3b of the shell 3. Thus, no further insertion of the disc cartridge 1 of first format into the cartridge holder 302 is carried out, so that the trigger lever 305 is not pressed in the locking releasing direction, producing no downward movement of the cartridge holder 302.
On the other hand, referring to FIG. 21, the integrated-trigger-type subordinate drive 301 is constructed such that the shutter opening member 303 has one end rotatably mounted to the chassis 308 through the pivot shaft 306, and another end formed with the shutter engagement 303a. The trigger lever 305, which is integrated with the shutter opening member 303 in the vicinity of the shutter engagement 303a, engages with the locked portion 304a of the cartridge-holder slide plate 304a.
A misinsertion preventing member 311 in the form of a torsion coil spring is arranged with the cartridge holder 302 of the integrated-trigger-type subordinate drive 301. Referring to FIG. 22, the misinsertion preventing member 311 is constructed such that when inserting into the cartridge holder 302 the disc cartridge 1 of first format in the normal position, one end 311a of the misinsertion preventing member 311 contacts the inclined face 3e of the shell 3 of the disc cartridge 1 of first format, and turns to the outside of the disc cartridge 1 of first format through the inclined face 3e to allow its insertion in the cartridge holder 302. On the other hand, referring to FIG. 23, when inserting into the cartridge holder 302 the disc cartridge 1 of first format in other position than the normal position, the one end 311a of the misinsertion preventing member 311 does not contact the inclined face 3e, and therefore cannot turn to the outside of the disc cartridge 1 of first format. Thus, the one end 311a of the misinsertion preventing member 311 is in the stretched state to prevent the insertion of the disc cartridge 1 of first format into the cartridge holder 302.
With an enlargement of the application field and the sphere of disc cartridges, there is an increasing demand for disc cartridges having greater storage capacity. In order to meet this demand, disc cartridges of second format are developed which have far greater storage capacity than that of the known 3.5" MFDs.
When using the shell of the known disc cartridge of first format as shown in FIG. 13 for the shell of the disc cartridge of second format, the disc cartridge of second format is loaded in the conventional subordinate drive 301. Due to the difference in disc rotating speed, recording/reading method, and so on, the disc cartridges of second format cannot applied to the conventional subordinate drive 301. Thus, when receiving the disc cartridge of second format, due to impossible readout of data that are actually recorded on the disc-like recording medium, the subordinate drive 301 may determine that the disc-like recording medium is not initialized. This may cause reformatting of the disc-like recording medium, resulting in possible erasing of important data recorded thereon. On the other hand, a drive for disc cartridges of second format (refer hereafter to as a midordinate drive) is required to ensure the applicability of the disc cartridges of first format through subordination compatibility.
In response to such demand, referring to FIG. 24, there have been developed a drive for disc cartridges of second format having subordination compatibility or a midordinate drive that is available to both the disc cartridges of second format that cannot be applied to the drive for disc cartridges of first format or the subordinate drive and the known disc cartridges of first format, and a structure for preventing misinsertion of disc cartridges. In this connection, see U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/114,754 filed on Jul. 13, 1998.
Referring to FIGS. 25-26, this application shows a groove 111 arranged with the disc cartridge 101 of second format, and a misinsertion preventing member 411 arranged with the midordinate drive 401.
The groove 111 of the disc cartridge 101 of second format is formed in a front end face of a shell 103 and outside a shutter slide area. Referring also to FIGS. 21-23, the groove 111 engages with the one end 311a of the misinsertion preventing member 311 of the integrated-trigger-type subordinate drive 301 to prevent the misinsertion preventing member 311 from turning to the outer side face of the shell 103, and engages also with a protrusion 411a of the misinsertion preventing member 411 of the midordinate drive 401.
The misinsertion preventing member 411 of the midordinate drive 401 is constructed such that when inserting into a cartridge holder 402 the disc cartridge 101 of second format in the normal position, the protrusion 411a of the misinsertion preventing member 411 engages with the groove 111 to enable insertion of the disc cartridge 101 of second format up to the position where a trigger lever 405 (see FIG. 27) releases locking of a cartridge-holder slide plate 404. And, when inserting into the cartridge holder 402 the disc cartridge 1 of first format with the inclined face 3e at one side of the front end face of the shell 3, the misinsertion preventing member 411 contacts the inclined face 3e of the disc cartridge 1 of first format to turn to outside thereof.
Therefore, when inserting into the midordinate drive 401 the disc cartridge 101 of second format in the normal position, referring to FIG. 27, the protrusion 411a of the misinsertion preventing member 411 engages with the groove 111, so that a shutter opening member 403 rotates clockwise about a pivot shaft 406 against the force of a coil spring 409 to open the shutter 4. Moreover, referring to FIG. 28, the engagement of the trigger lever 405 with a trigger engagement 404a of the cartridge-holder slide plate 404 is removed to release locking of the cartridge-holder slide plate 404 by the trigger lever 405, so that the cartridge-holder slide plate 404 is slid in the direction of arrow A by the force of a spring, not shown, to move the cartridge holder 402 downward.
Referring to FIG. 29, when inserting into the cartridge holder 302 of the subordinate drive 301 the disc cartridge 101 of second format, the one end 311a of the misinsertion preventing member 311 of the subordinate drive 301 engages with the groove 111, and its head contacts the shell 103 to prevent the disc cartridge 101 of second format from further entering the cartridge holder 302 of the subordinate drive 301.
Referring to FIG. 30, when inserting into the cartridge holder 402 of the midordinate drive 401 the disc cartridge 1 of first format in the normal position, the protrusion 411a of the misinsertion preventing member 411 contacts the inclined face 3e of the disc cartridge 1 of first format, and turns to the outside thereof against the force of a coil spring 412 to allow loading of the disc cartridge 1 of first format. On the other hand, referring to FIG. 31, when inserting into the midordinate drive 401 the disc cartridge 1 of first format or the disc cartridge 101 of second format in other position than the normal position, the protrusion 411a of the misinsertion preventing member 411 contacts the shell to prevent the disc cartridge 1 or 101 from further entering the cartridge holder 402 of the midordinate drive 401.
Referring to FIG. 24, in case of developing disc cartridges of third format having greater storage capacity corresponding to the next-generation high-capacity cartridges than that of the disc cartridges 101 of second format corresponding to the existing high-capacity disc cartridges, the measures for making a drive for disc cartridges of third format (refer hereafter to as a superordinate drive) available to the disc cartridges 101 of second format, but not to the disc cartridges 1 of first format need to rely upon preventing the insertion of the disc cartridge 1 of first format into the superordinate drive. The reason is that when extending the recording or reproducing openings for the disc-like recording medium of the disc cartridge of second or third format to the outer periphery with respect to the recording or reproducing openings for the disc-like recording medium of the disc cartridge of first format, and enlarging the recording area of the disc-like recording medium of the disc cartridge of third format to the outer periphery, when inserting into the superordinate drive the disc cartridge 1 of first format, a magnetic head, etc. of the superordinate drive may be damaged by contacting the edges of the recording or reproducing openings of the disc cartridge 1 of first format.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a structure for preventing insertion of disc cartridges of first format into the superordinate drive.